Base assembly for ski boot heel binding

ABSTRACT

A base assembly for fixing a ski heel binding body to a ski comprises a fixing metal member provided with a sheath portion at its rear portion. It is fixed to the upper surface of the ski by screws threaded through fixing holes in the member. A guide plate includes a tongue portion to engage with the sheath portion of the fixing metal member and holes at its fore-end corresponding with the fixing holes at the fore-end of the fixing metal member when the tongue portion is engaged with the sheath portion. The guide plate is easily fixed to the fixing metal member by the tongue portion and by the screws threaded through the holes at the fore-end of the guide plate and the fixing metal member.

baited States Patent inventor Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Priority BASE ASSEMBLY FOR SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl.....

Int. Cl

Field of Search .1:

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,391 ,944 7/1968 Shimizu 280/1 1.35 T 3,497,230 2/1970 Hashioka 280/1135 T 3,529,845 9/1970 Kanno 280/1 1.35 T

Primary Examiner Leo Friaglia Assistant Examiner- Robert R. Song At10rneyEliot S. Gerber ABSTRACT: A base assembly for fixing a ski heel binding body to a ski comprises a fixing metal member provided with a sheath portion at its rear portion. It is fixed to the upper surface of the ski by screws threaded through fixing holes in the member. A guide plate includes a tongue portion to engage with the sheath portion of the fixing metal member and holes at its fore-end corresponding with the fixing holes at the foreend of the fixing metal member when the tongue portion is engaged with the sheath portion. The guide plate is easily fixed to the fixing metal member by the tongue portion and by the screws threaded through the holes at the fore-end of the guide plate and the fixing metal member.

PAIENTEnuuv 16 |97l 3.620.544

SHEET 2 0r 2 INVIL'NTOR 412910 swam/4 BY M 7% ATTORNEY BASE ASSEMBLY FOR SKI BOOT HEEL BINDING The present invention relates to a ski heel binding for fastening the ski boot heel to a ski and more particularly to a novel structure of a base assembly for the safety ski heel binding body.

In one type of a conventional ski heel safety binding a compression spring acts to press a ski boot heel engaging member down on the ski in normal skiing but acts to automatically release the boot heel engaging member, and the ski boot, when an abnormal severe upward thrust is applied to the heel. The ski heel binding body of this type is mounted to a base, which is directly fixed to the ski, by a device for sliding the heel binding to a desired position and setting it in that position. Normally, four fixing holes in the base extend relatively outside of the binding in both directions of the ski. Therefore, when the base mounting the ski heel binding body thereon is to befixed to the ski by wood screws, it may cause damage to the ski and ski edges. Furthermore, the operation of fixing the base to the ski is relatively troublesome. Namely, after fitting the ski boot toe to a toe fixture (which has been fixed to the ski) a position corresponding to the rear end of the boot heel is determined and a paper pattern adapted to show the four fixing holes is fitted in the position. Then, the four fixing holes are drilled in the ski and the base fixed to the ski by the wood screws.

An object of the present invention is to provide a base assembly for a ski boot heel binding body which is easily and precisely fixed to the ski without using a paper pattern and without requiring a skilled operator.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferable embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are side sectional views showing ski boot heel bindings on a base assembly, according to the present invention, in the locking position and the unlocking position, respectively;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a fixing metal member and a guide plate comprising the base assembly of the ski heel binding of the present invention; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing other embodiments of the fixing metal member, respectively.

According to the present invention, a base assembly is fundamentally composed of two members. The first member is a fixing metal member adapted to be fixed directly to the upper surface of a ski. The second member is a guide plate superposed upon the fixing metal member and engaged therewith and fixed to the ski by wood screws, which screws pass also through holes of the fixing metal member.

In FIG. 3 the fixing metal member, designated by reference numeral 1, has two fixing holes 2 at its front (fore) end (relative to the ski), another fixing hole 3 at its rear end, and a sheath (inverted channellike) portion 4 at its rear portion. The sheath portion is projected upwards, for example, by pressure stamping.

On the other hand, the guide plate designated by reference numeral has only two fixing holes 11 at its front end, the holes 11 being at the same crossways spaced interval as the two holes 2 of the fixing metal member 1. The guide plate 10 has also guide flanges 12 formed along both its edges and a vertical wall 13 formed at its rear end. The vertical wall 13 is provided with a hole 14 through which a bolt 30 (ofthe sliding means for a ski heel binding body 20, which will be described hereinafter in detail) is rotatably secured, see FIGS. 1 and 2.

By this sliding means the ski heel binding body is mounted so as to be slided back and forth upon the surface of the guide plate 10. Preferably ski heel binding bodies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,230, granted to the same assignee as this application. For the purpose of simplifying this disclosure, one of the ski heel binding bodies according to the above patent is employed in the below-described embodiment of the present invention.

The side frames 21 each have a groove formed at its lower end to engage with the guide flange 12 of the guide plate l0.

The side frames 21 are connected so as to leave a space between them in which are mounted a spring receiving pin 22, an upper pin 23, and a rear pin 24. A spring-receiving seat 25 is engaged with the side frames by projections 26 extending from both sides of the spring-receiving seat and inserted through horizontal holes 27 of the side frames 21. A spring 29 is provided between the spring-receiving seat 25 and the spring-receiving pin 22.

The bolt 30 for sliding the ski heel binding body 20 is threaded through the spring-receiving seat 25. Reference numeral 31 is a head of the bolt 20.

On the rear pin 24 connecting the side frames 21, a casing is rotatably secured at the lower rear portion thereof so as to cover the side frames 21. An L-shaped lever 32 is rotatably secured at the turned portion of casing 40 so that the lever extends at its rear portion outside of the casing. A ski boot heel receiving member 41 is secured to the front face of the casing 40 by two pins 43 and 44. A heel engaging member 42 is secured to an elongated slot 45 in the front face of the heel receiving member 41 so that the member 42 is adjustable from top to bottom by a screw.

A swinging link 46 is rotatably secured on the upper pin 23 connecting the side frames 21. A fore link 48 connected to the lower end of the swinging link 46 by a pin 47 is rotatably secured to the above-mentioned pin 43. A connecting link 48 connects the pin 47 and the L-shaped lever 32.

A spring 50 is provided between a spring-receiving means 51 and a spring adjusting screw 52. The spring-receiving means 51 is formed to be integral with the swinging link 46. The spring adjusting screw 52 is rotatably secured to the upper back portion of the casing 40 with the head 53 projecting beyond the casing. Spring pressure adjusting means 54 is secured to the front portion of the spring adjusting screw 52 and an extension arm 55 of the latter is in contact with the inner face of the casing 40.

In operation, when the lever 32 is pushed down, for example, by the tip of a ski pole against the force of the spring 50, the heel engaging member 41 is displaced to the unlocking position, as shown in FIG. 2. When the heel-receiving member 41 in the unlocking position is pressed down by the boot heel, the heel-engaging member is displaced to engage the boot heel, as shown in the locking position in FIG. 1. As lines connecting the three pins 23, 47 and 43 come close to a straight line, the heel engaging member 42 is not moved by small forces. However, when a severe upward force is applied to the foot, the fore link 48 begins to rotate in the clockwise direction against the spring 50. As soon as the fore link 48 goes over the dead point of the spring 50, the pin 47 is pressed downwards by the spring 50 (as shown in FIG. 2), thereby pushing up the pin 43 as well as the heel engaging member 42. On the other hand, since the severe upward force to the foot also displaces the side frames 21 to the rearward direction, the ski boot is disengaged from the ski heel binding, preventing an accident, such as a sprain.

To fix the ski heel binding to the ski in accordance with the present invention, the same steps as with conventional bindings are taken in that a toe fixture is fixed to the ski and that, after setting the boot toe to the toe fixture, the correct position corresponding to the rear end of the boot is determined on the ski. According to the present invention, the fixing metal member 1 is moved back and forth directly below the boot heel to set a certain fixed point of the fixing metal member at the rear end of the ski boot. By threading a wood screw through the fixing hole 3, the fixing metal member is fixed to this position on the ski. Then the guide plate 10 is superposed upon the fixing metal member 1 to engage the tongue 15 of the guide plate with the sheath portion 4 of the fixing metal member and to bring the holes 2 and 11 of both members into correspondence. Two wood screws are positioned through the fixing holes 2 and 11, respectively, and threaded into holes in the ski, thereby fixing the both members to the ski.

The base assembly of the present invention, composed of the fixing metal member 1 and the guide plate 10, does not require a conventional paper pattern to determine the fixing position of the ski heel binding, since the fixing metal member I itself serves the same function as paper pattern. In the base assembly fixed to the ski by the three wood screws as a whole, the fixing hole 3 is positioned in the center of both side edges and the interval of the fixing holes 2 and 11 has nothing to do with the slide of the ski heel binding 20, whereby the interval between the fixing holes 2 and 11 can be made rather narrower with the result that there is no fear that the wood screws would damage the ski or ski edges.

The ski heel binding body 20, which is assembled beforehand on the guide plate 10, can be integrally fixed to the ski by the fixing metal member 1. Though the guide plate is fixed to the ski only by the two wood screws, it is immobilized by the tongue which is engaged with the sheath portion 4 of the fixing metal member 1. If the ski heel binding body is desired to be separated from the ski because of an obstruction thereof, the ski heel binding body, may be separated (together with the guide plate 10) by removing only the two wood screws. Though the tongue portion 15 of the guide plate 10 is exposed beyond the bottom of the fixing metal in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fixed state of the guide plate 10 is to be substantially horizontal as the center portions of the ski are slightly curved upwards. The tongue portion 15 may be concealed in the sheath portion, if desired.

Preferably, a window hole 5 is made in the fixing metal member 1 to reduce its weight thereof and to make apparent the position that the rear end of the boot heel will take. The window hole may be any shape such as circle, diamond-shape, rectangle or the like, provided that the center fixed point can easily be obtained. FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the fixing metal member in which two triangular projections 6 are opposed from the inside of the window hole 5. FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the fixing metal member in which triangle marks 7 are stamped on the opposite sides of the window hole 5. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 5, centerline marks 8 are stamped along the lengthwise direction of the fixing metal 1 so that anyone can easily align the centerline marks of the fixing metal member with the centerline on the ski.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ski heel binding comprising base means, side frames to be moved along the base means, a casing pivotally fitted over said side frames and provided with a boot heel engaging member at the front face thereof, and means normally pressing down the boot heel engaging member but disengaging it only when an abnormal severe upward thrust is applied thereto, the improvement in the base means comprising: a substantially flat fixing member provided with two fixing holes at the fore-end portion thereof, a sheath portion projected upwards at the rear portion thereof, and another fixing hole at the rear end thereof; and a guide member provided with two fixing holes at the fore-end thereof at the same transverse interval as the holes at the fore-end portion of the fixing member, flanges at both longitudinal side ends thereof engaged with the lower end of said side frames, a tongue portion adapted to be engaged with said sheath portion, and a vertical wall at the rear end thereof having-a hole through which protrudes a screw for sliding said side frames along the flange.

2. In a ski heel binding as claimed in claim 1, said fixing member further provided with a window hole in front of said sheath portion.

3. In a ski heel binding as hole being provided with from opposite sides thereof.

4. In a ski heel binding as claimed in claim 2, said fixing member being provided with triangles marked on the opposite outer sides of the window hole and a centerline marked thereon to indicate its placement along the centerline of the 5 In a ski heel binding comprising base means, side frames to be moved along the base means, a casing pivotally fitted over said side frames and claimed in claim 2, said window triangular projections projected pressing down the boot heel engaging member but disengaging it only when an abnormal severe upward thrust is applied thereto, the improvement in the base means comprising: a substantially flat fixing member provided with a plurality of fixing holes including at least two holes at its fore portion, and a sheath portion projected upwards; and a guide member, upon which the ski heel binding side frames are mounted, provided with a tongue portion to engage with said sheath portion and fixing holes brought into correspondence to said holes at the fore portion of the fixing member as the tongue portion is engaged with the sheath portion.

* i k 1 I 

1. In a ski hEel binding comprising base means, side frames to be moved along the base means, a casing pivotally fitted over said side frames and provided with a boot heel engaging member at the front face thereof, and means normally pressing down the boot heel engaging member but disengaging it only when an abnormal severe upward thrust is applied thereto, the improvement in the base means comprising: a substantially flat fixing member provided with two fixing holes at the fore-end portion thereof, a sheath portion projected upwards at the rear portion thereof, and another fixing hole at the rear end thereof; and a guide member provided with two fixing holes at the fore-end thereof at the same transverse interval as the holes at the fore-end portion of the fixing member, flanges at both longitudinal side ends thereof engaged with the lower end of said side frames, a tongue portion adapted to be engaged with said sheath portion, and a vertical wall at the rear end thereof having a hole through which protrudes a screw for sliding said side frames along the flange.
 2. In a ski heel binding as claimed in claim 1, said fixing member further provided with a window hole in front of said sheath portion.
 3. In a ski heel binding as claimed in claim 2, said window hole being provided with triangular projections projected from opposite sides thereof.
 4. In a ski heel binding as claimed in claim 2, said fixing member being provided with triangles marked on the opposite outer sides of the window hole and a centerline marked thereon to indicate its placement along the centerline of the ski.
 5. In a ski heel binding comprising base means, side frames to be moved along the base means, a casing pivotally fitted over said side frames and provided with a boot heel engaging member at the front face thereof, and means normally pressing down the boot heel engaging member but disengaging it only when an abnormal severe upward thrust is applied thereto, the improvement in the base means comprising: a substantially flat fixing member provided with a plurality of fixing holes including at least two holes at its fore portion, and a sheath portion projected upwards; and a guide member, upon which the ski heel binding side frames are mounted, provided with a tongue portion to engage with said sheath portion and fixing holes brought into correspondence to said holes at the fore portion of the fixing member as the tongue portion is engaged with the sheath portion. 